Rock steady with sweet falsetto harmonies. Yes please. This classic rock steady/reggae tune is a reinterpretation of the 1962 Curtis Mayfield/The Impressions track ‘Minstrel & Queen.’
I’m slowly starting to realize how much influence the music my mom has played around the house has influenced me. I was never even really into reggae, mainly because it was just something I constantly heard. A lot of my mom’s favourite songs, and the songs I heard growing up, were produced by Winston Riley. So it’s weird to think about how someone who I didn’t know of until his death, influenced the way I make songs.
Os 3 Morais — Azul Da Cor Do Mar Tico - Tico No Fuba
from Os 3 Morais (1971)
Take this song. Place on tongue. Swallow.
A vocal chill pill from Brazilian siblings Jane Vicentina do Espírito Santo, Sidney do Espírito Santo e Roberto do Espírito Santo: the three ‘Morais’ (their mother’s maiden name).
The trio got its start in the early 60s recording jingles for commercials—you can definitely hear a tinge of soap ad salesmanship in these super-polished vocals.
Wow. Wow. Her voice sounds like a synthesizer. Spooky, beautiful vocal loops in the bad-acid-trip Linda Perhacs vein. Definitely looking forward to this one.
Here’s a heavenly track off Julia Holter’s next album Ekstasis. Her 2011 release, Tragedy, is one of my favorites of this year - and this next one will no doubt be another hit. Check out more info on RVNG Intl.
Hard-livin’ harmonies laid down in a Tucson shack with an 8-track. This desert jewel has now resurfaced with a vinyl reissue from Sebastian Speaks. It formerly existed only as an ultra-rare 400-record pressing by Wray’s record label, Vermillion Records, and copies were reportedly sold only at shows in the Tucson area.
Vernon’s younger brother Link Wray was the musical star of the family, a legendary guitarist who supposedly ‘invented’ the power chord in the 1950s, and the reason Pete Townsend picked up a guitar. Vernon never got as famous as Link, though he played in several iterations of his brother’s band. Along the way he worked as a taxi driver, grocery store owner and recording studio manager, at his own ‘Wray’s Shack 3-Track.’
In 1972 he moved from the family compound in Maryland to Tucson, taking a wall of his Maryland studio with him, and building a new studio around it, with eight tracks rather than three. There, he recorded this brightly melancholy collection.
Listen to that beautiful steel guitar. And that forlorn harmony. Makes a man want a beer, don’t it? Hell, why not…it’s Country Sunday.
Crisp little curlicue guitars twisting to and fro on top of a thumpity-thump-thump beat, with sing-along vocals that just make you wanna screeeeaaaam!! Tiffany Lamson’s raspy voice is really to die for. And if you stick around til the end, they’ll actually slay you with huge drums and synth hits.
I quickly fell in love with sunshine and bounce of this single from Givers. The chorus is just is just contagious, rapturous glee, and the joyous afro-beat keeps the track bopping along. The gang vocals and alternating male and female vocals are some of the better I’ve heard. First available on their debut EP, it now leads their debut album, In Light, available June 7th through Glassnote Music.
If you’re a fan of the Funky Drummer, feel-good sitcom themes, rainbows, or the vaguely menacing horns of the Taxi Driver soundtrack, then I recommend checking out this bizarre 1971 track from the Mexican group Luz y Fuerza.
Luz y Fuerza (Light & Power) was born during the Mexican counterculture movement of the late 1960s, La Onda Chicana, which culminated in 1971 with a sort of “Mexican Woodstock,” Avándaro, at which Luz y Fuerza played…and lots of jipitecas danced.
Let’s stay on the sunny shores of Brazil, Forteleza to be exact, with this track by Trio Nagô, three fellows with soothing voices, active in the 1940s-60s.
There’s a lot of breezy samba on this album. But this cut, ‘Prece ao vento’ (Prayer to the Wind) is a bit more unusual, with horror-film theremin, and accordion for dramatic effect. The lovely cover art is by the Argentinian graphic artist Paez Torres.
Look at these fine gentlemen.
Thirsty for more coconut juice? Bossa Brasileira has the album and a detailed writeup. And the #1 rabbithole, Mining the Audio Motherlode, had me drilling into this vein of Brazilian ore in the first place.
I fell in love with the trippy Italian group Dumbo Gets Mad back when the surfalicious slo-mo video for Plumy Tale made the blogrounds…maybe you did too. Now, with just enough time gone by to forget about ‘em, they’re back with a staggering masterpiece of an album, straight out of who-knows-what-provincia in Italy.
Rich, ethereal psych-rock landscapes littered with chunky synths, falsetto, electronic marimbas, jangly out-of-tune guitars, cheesy organs, basement drums and flying saucer fumes, each tune essentially a musical Where’s Waldo, with so many tracks it’d take Phil Spector or Brian Wilson to get to the bottom of it all.
You can get all this madness for free from the label, Bad Panda Records. Highly recommended for those who enjoy sippin’ on the Ariel Pink/MGMT koolaid. Definitely of the cult, and the caliber.
I keep coming back to the Cuban doo-wop group Los Zafiros — the Sapphires. Their harmonies are gorgeous, their energy unparalleled. And this video…it’s a riot. All I can say is this — if your love calls you and you don’t answer the phone like this, you’re not in love.
Shimmy over to the fantastic blog What’s In My iPod…right now…and treat yourself to a little slice of Cuban musical paradise.
And if you need a Zafiros ballad right now, here it is.
Dug out this album the other day… Thirteen’s been on repeat ever since. So perfectly crafted. Soft harmonies play nicely with a stark, sort of geometrical guitar break in the middle…almost architectural? Brilliant.
A friend was playing this record the other night and my ears perked up as soon as I heard the sweet, dual-tracked harmonies on this fado-esque track. They just pierce through the dusty scratching on this old LP.
And it happens that our memory of this beautiful cantora has collected just about as much dust as the record. I could find very little about her even after extensive searching. Whether she’s living, dead, or ever recorded another record after this one, is a question for a scholar of Brazilian music.
The one interesting bit of information I did find was from the December 8, 1956 issue of Billboard. I took a screenshot of the cover and pasted over a snippet about Petraglia, taken from a piece about New York City-based Westminster Records.
‘Imported’ from the Amazon? And I wasn’t familiar with the term ‘thrush’ for singer. But there it is.
I’d like to thank Ryan at The Vinyl LP Resurrection Collection for uploading all the tracks he could salvage from a damaged copy of the album. You can grab Songs of Brazil there.
I’m just gonna say it. This album has been blowing my mind. In my top of 2010, along with Sweet Lights. Usually it’s pretty easy to pick the winning tune or two from an album — in this case I’ve been tossing and turning at night trying to figure it out.
Let the Sirens Go is one of the faster songs on the album, featuring the Owls’ signature harmonies (is Brian Wilson in this band?), some psychedelic 60s flute, weird zippy sounds and a nice plump distorted bassline.
But there’s a lot more to hear on this album so I’ll probably be posting more from these guys soon. In the meantime, check out the post on Head Underwater that led me to Conspiracy of Owls. The track there, The New Me, is another favorite.
Thanks to yvynyl for the tip on this one. A great new album by Shai Halperin of The Capitol Years. Every song is a perfectly crafted pop gem, from bleeding harmonies to honky-tonk meltdowns and bass arpeggios — it’s all there. A lot of those moments where the build up to the chorus just makes you bang your fist on the table it’s so right on. Wordwise, here’s a sampling from this particular tune…
“When I finally lost my mind…I wasn’t young, but it was time / Living in the middle of the road…I wasn’t old, but I resigned”
You can download four tracks for free at the Sweet Lights bandcamp. And then you’ll be hooked. So spend the $5 and buy the album!
Mulholland Driving, driving music inspired by a dark night navigating the Hollywood Hills.
Music for promotional purposes only. If you are the copyright holder of a particular song and wish to see it removed, I'm happy to do so. Just let me know.
